A Secret Offer
Fiction

A Secret Offer

Self-Carelessness with Coachinger
Matthew Coachinger
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time 2 minutes

If it weren’t for my usual mental acuity, I would never have found out about a secret offer at my local supermarket. It is 100% hush-hush – there are no leaflets, no ads, no-one says anything about it. Nevertheless, the offer enjoys great success. Several times each day, one lucky customer enjoys an extraordinary prize.

It always begins in a similar way: there are a lot of shoppers in the aisles, and just one cashier at the checkout. Or lots of customers and just two cashiers. In

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The Most Beautiful Day of My Life
Fiction

The Most Beautiful Day of My Life

Self-Carelessness with Coachinger
Matthew Coachinger

In order to tell you about the best day, I must first summarize the worst.

Seemingly, that is objectively, it was a very successful day. I spent it with friends, at a picnic. The weather was wonderful. But right at the start of this al fresco party, I was disturbed by an event (or rather, a lack thereof). Lo and behold: someone said something hilarious, then someone else followed with a funny phrase, and finally everyone laughed out loud. No wonder, they did – it was very funny. Then, suddenly, a wonderful, laconic punch line popped into my head. In a new way, it merged the two previous jokes, showing their hidden aspects, blooming and bursting with numerous meanings. I was about to deliver that royal punchline when someone interrupted me and directed the flow of conversation in an entirely different direction. And I was left behind with this – never born – pearl of mine.

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